2025-08-11: Watered Down
- Cutscene: Watered Down
- Cast: Hodai Tabe (NPC), Umie Akabane (Mentioned)
- Where: An Apartment in Sumaru City
- OOC Date: August 11th, 2025
- IC Date: June 24th, 2012
- Summary: When the answer to your problems is just a phone call away, why not try it out for yourself?
Hodai Tabe was not having a great day.
Despite him trying to keep it under wraps, eventually, his supervisors learned of the 'Chick-tan' mascot costume incident at the Sumaru Hyakumanzeki Festival, weeks ago. While Umie Akabane, the former employee he brought in to wear the mascot costume, was the one responsible for ruining it, Hodai neglected to have a watcher there to free her, when the costume's cooling function backfired.
That's what the report said, anyway. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't find anyone available on such short notice. If that little idiot hadn't ripped open the costume in front of all those kids, they wouldn't have a company's PR department breathing down his bosses' necks.
Dressed in a tank top and shorts, Hodai wedged himself in front of the lone fan in his apartment, staving off the summer heat as he scrolled the internet for job offerings. The glass of water on the floor desk grew slick with condensation, as if commiserating with the equally sweaty young man. The midday heat was barely alleviated by the cool evening air as the hours passed with nothing to show for it, save for a refilled glass of water as his search continued.
At some point his browser tabs went elsewhere, as lead after lead led to dried up sources. The wealth of misfortune broke the young man down; sure, he could tread water for a little bit, but it wasn't _enough_. He wanted *results*.
He's seen Umie walking about Sumaru City, even after she's told him she had moved. The way she smiled to herself, a skip in her step, was different from the quiet high school graduate he had tried to help from time to time. There were naturally rumors in the breakroom that he was trying to snatch up the girl as some sort of workplace sweetheart, but she wasn't his type. He had watched her blossom, waiting for that magic age when she could move away from her dipshit parents.
And she had, the little bird flying away to pretend at being an adult, while workers like him had to still pay the rent and give up their dreams of being anything more than just another cog in the machine.
The glass of water was replaced with a stronger liquid, now, something that eased the bite of his frustration and aimless searching. The red background of the Phan-site made him feel like he was back in high school himself, and he felt juvenile for it. You just put someone's name in and what? They have a change of heart, somehow?
Hodai didn't want *that*. Adult problems needed adult solutions. Strega? No, he wasn't a murderer. He just wanted someone who'd listen, and make everything right again. He didn't want to think, he'd done enough thinking for the day.
There was a third option. However, a phone call, in this day and age? It felt good. It felt... indirect.
What harm was there in saying a name to the other end of a phone?